Closet bag



June 19, 1962 J. MINTz cLosET BAG Filed Dec. 29,

INVENTOR. .7A ma /Y//vrz Arran/[y:

United States atent 3,039,599 CLOSET BAG Jacob Mintz, Fall River, Mass., assignor to Seal Sac, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Rhode Island Filed Dec. 29, 1961, Ser. No. 163,103 11 Claims. (Cl. 206-7) This invention relates to closet bags of the type which are hung on a clothes bar, and more particularly to such a bag for ladies shoes or garment accessories.

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved closet bag which is readily hung on a clothes bar, much like a garment bag, but which will receive and protectively house a large number of ladies shoes or accessories, while making them easily available for selection and removal. In preferred form the protective sheath and the shoe pockets are made of a thin transparent flexible sheet plastic for easy visibility and display. The bag is collapsible to small dimension for shipment and sale.

To accomplish the foregoing general object, and other more specific `objects which will hereinafter appear, my invention resides in the closet bag elements and their relation one to another as are hereinafter more particu-V larly described in the following specification. The specication is accompanied by a drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a closet bag embodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section taken approximately in the plane of the line 2 2 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken approximately in the plane of the line 3-3 of FIG. l.

Referring to the drawing, the closet bag comprises a large top 12, and spaced hooks 14 on said top to hang the bag on a clothes bar. indicated in broken lines at 16. There is also a large bottom 18, and a flexible inner sleeve extending between the large top 12 and the bottom 18. This sleeve has a small ltop 22 freely rotatable beneath the large top 12, and it has a small bottom 24 freely rotatable above the large bottom 18.

There are pockets 26 secured around the sleeve 20', from top to bottom. In the present case, these are dimensioned to receive ladies shoes 28. There is an outer sheath 30 extending between the top 12 and the bottom 18, the said outer shea-th having a releasable opening 32 extending from top to bottom, so that the sheath 30 may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve 30.

` In preferred form there is an upper frame 34 made 'f bent wire or rod, and having a crossbar 36 which in turn carries the spaced hooks 14. There is also a lower frame 38 made of bent wire or rod and having a cross bar 40. An upper pintle 42 depends from the upper frame or crossbar 36, `and a lower pintle 44 projects upward from the lower frame or crossbar 44.1.

The inner sleeve 20 is made of thin flexible sheet material, and includes a stiff top 46 which is freely rotatable on the upper pintle 42, and a stiff bottom 48 which is freely rotatable on the lower pintle 44. The parts 46 and 48 `may be stamped out of a cardboard or fibrous material having a thickness of say 14 inch.

The outer sheath 30 is preferably made of a thin flexible transparent plastic sheet material, and similar remark applies to the pockets 26, thereby exposing the contents. 'Ihe inner sleeve 20 may be made of the same material, but in this case the transparency is relatively unimportant.

The opening at 32 is a releasable opening, and in simplest form may be provided with a conventional slide fastener the slider of which is indicated in FIG. 1 at 50. It will be understood that by moving the slider from top to bottom position the outer sheath 30 is opened for insertion or removal of a desired pair of shoes, and all of the shoes are readily accessible by free rotation of the inner sleeve. The opening 32 with its slide fastener is preferably located at a point midway between the hooks 14, because in the usual clothes closet the bar 16 runs from side to side, and thus the slide fastener is disposed at the front or most convenient position.

In preferred form the top frame 34 and the bottom frame 38 are circular, and they support theA sheath 30 in cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. l. The crossbars 36 and 4t) then are diametrical. The top 46 and bottomk 48 of the inner sleeve 20 are also circular, and of substantially smaller diameter than the frames. The frames may be loosely inserted inside the outer sheath so that the lower frame 38 simply rests on the bottom 18. The top 12 is preferably provided with eyelets 52 which are spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough of the hooks 14, much las is done with ordinary rectangular garment bags.

Considering the construction in greater detail, the hooks 14 preferably have Shanks 54 `the lower ends of which are headed inside of bearings 56, the latter being bent around the diametrical crossbar '56 and thereby secured thereto. The hooks are rotatable in the bearings '56, and the construction may be the same as that used in garment bags. A similar bearing 58 may be applied at the center of the crossbar, to receive and support the pintle 42, the upper end of which is headed inside the said bearing 58. At its lower end the pintle 42 may receive a friction or spring nut 60 or other suitable fastener to hold the disc 46. 'Ihe lower pintle 44 similarly has a friction or spring nut 62 or other fastener to hold the disc 48.

The pockets 26 are stitched to the material of sleeve 20 while the material is still in flat condition. This stitch-V ing operation is preferably aided by the use of reinforcing tape or piping, and the latter may be opaque material having a suitable color, say gold, to ornament the appearance of the closet bag. In the particular case here shown, there are four pockets around the sleeve, and the side edges of the pockets have vertical tapes 64 stitched thereover. The upper edge of the pocket is open but is reinforced with a similar tape or piping shown at 66 in FIG. 2. The patterning of the pocket is such that it bulges open at the top but not at the bottom, and the bottom edge is stitched to the sleeve with the aid of tape indicated at 68 in FIG. 2.

When the flat material is rolled to cylindrical form the meeting edges are stitched with an outside tape or piping, and this preferably is folded around the edges of the adjacent pockets as well as the edges of the sleeve, as shown at 70. The top edge of the sleeve may be stitched to a circular top piece 22 wit-h the aid of a tape or piping shown at 72, and similar remark applies to the piping 74 at the lower end of the sleeve. The stiffening disc 46 is secured to the top 22 by means of a bearing or eyelet 76, and similar remark applies to the bearing or eyelet 78 shown at the bottom. `Inyrnore expensive form the device may be provided fwith ball bearings or other such anti-friction bearings at the pintles 42 and 44, but v this is not essential because the sleeve turns freely even without the help of ball bearings. Y A

The pintles are inserted through the bearings, and the nuts 62 are applied, before the longitudinal seam 70iis completed.

The large diameter bottom y18 is stitched to the sheath 30 with the aid of piping or tape shown at y80. For improved appearance the top 12 and a narrow band of peripheral material shown at 82 Iare preferably made of an opaque material which may be fabric or a plastic material laminated to fabric or laminated to an opaque plastic material which simulates fabric, and the resulting laminate is preferably diagonally stitched or provided with simulated lines of diagonal stitching, to give the seam -a quilted appearance. The band S2 is stitched to the circular top l2 with the aid of a piping or tape 84, and the band 82 is then secured to the upper edge of the transparent side wall 30 with the aid of the piping or tape indicated at 86. The top 12 and band 82 may be gold colored when the other tapes previously mentioned are gold colored.

'Ihe slide fastener may be attached in any desired or known fashion, land in the present case the tapes 88 of the fastener are stitched to the edges of the sheath 30 with the aid of piping 90.

The dimensions may vary, but in the particular case here illustrated the sleeve has a diameter of six inches, and it has four pockets around its periphery. The pockets are eight inches high. The outer sheath has a diameter of thirteen inches and is about five feet high. The thicknesses shown in the drawing are not to scale. The frames are made of wire having a diameter of say J7/32 inch, and the flexible plastic sheet material is paper thin, instead of these being comparable as might appear from the drawing. The sheet and tape thicknesses have been greatly exaggerated in the drawing. The piping or trim at 72, 74, 80, `84, and 86 are all thin and flat, with ample room for serving therethrough, instead of being thick and squat as shown. The entire bag except the rings is exible and may be `collapsed in height for shipment and sale in a box having a height of say five inches.

It will be understood that the inner sleeve and the outer sheath need not necessarily be cylindrical in configuration. The inner sleeve could have square pieces at the top and bottom and be square in section, with a shoe pocket on each face of the resulting square parallelopiped. The inner sleeve, whether circular or squ-are, is rotatable inside of an outer sheath which may be flat-sided instead of cylindrical, depending on the peripheral shape of the frames 34 and 3S. `In all cases, of course, the clearance between the inner sleeve and the outer sheath must be adequate to afford free rotation, with the pockets occupied by shoes.

lt will be understood that by increasing the diameter of the inner sleeve it might be provided with additional pockets, say six, instead of four pockets around the sleeve. The outer sheath then would be appropriately increased in diameter.

It will be understood that the sleeve may be designed to carry a garment accessory, for example ladies handbags, instead of shoes. In such case, it may be provided with two pockets instead of four around the periphery, and the sleeve will tend to flatten when carrying handbags, but the flattened sleeve is rotatable inside the sheath for easy access to any desired handbag.

It is believed that the construction and method of use of my improved closet bag, as well as the advantages thereof, will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description. It will also be apparent that while I have shown and described the invention in a preferred form, changes may be made in the structure shown without departing from the scope of the invention, as sought to be dened in the following claims. In the claims the expression top to bottom is intended to primarily indicate direction, and does not necessarily mean the entire distance all the way from the top to the bottom.

I claim:

1. A closet bag comprising a large top, spaced hooks on said top to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a large bottom, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said large top land bottom, said sleeve having a small top freely rotatable beneath the large top and having a small bottom freely rotatable above the large bottom, pockets secured around said sleeve, and an outer sheath extending between the large top and bottom, said outer sheath having a releasable opening extending from top to bottom,

whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve.

2. A closet bag comprising an upper frame having a cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a lower `frame having a cross bar, `a flexible inner sleeve extending between said frames, said sleeve having a top freely rotatable on the cross bar of the upper frame and having a bottom freely rotatable on the cross bar of the lower frame, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and a flexible outer sheath between the upper and lower frames, said outer sheath having a releasable opening extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets o-f the freely rotatable inner sleeve, and said sheath having a top and a bottom stitched thereto. 1

3. A closet bag comprising an upper frame having a cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a lower frame having a cross` bar, an upper pintle depending from 4the upper frame, a"

lower pintle projecting upward from the lower frame, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said frames, said sleeve having a stiff top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having a stiff bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from -top to bottom, and a flexible outer sheath extending between the upper and lower frames, said outer sheath having a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a top and a bottom stitched thereto, and said top having eyelets spaced and dimensioned Ifor passage therethrough of .the aforesaid hooks of the top frame.

4. A closet bag comprising an upper frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a lower frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, a lower pintle projecting upward from the lower frame, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said frames, said sleeve having a stiff top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having a stiff bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and an outer sheath made of a transparent plastic sheet material extending between the upper and lower frames, said outer sheath having a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for .access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a top and `a bottom stitched thereto, and said top having eyelets spaced and dirnensioned for passage therethrough of the aforesaid hooks of the top frame. l

5. A closet bag comprising an upper circular frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar and spacell hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a lower circular frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, a lower pintle projecting upward from the lower frame, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said frames, said sleeve having a circular top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having a circular bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and an outer sheath made of a exible material extending between the upper land lower frames, said outer sheath having a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a circular top and a circular bottom stitched thereto, said top having eyelets spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough, of the aforesaid hooks of the top frame, and said bottom frame resting on the bottom of the sheath.

6. A ladies shoe bag comprising an upper circular frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a e' 7. A closet bag comprising a clothes bar, a lower circular fname made of -bent wire and having a cross bar, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, ia lower pintle projecting upward from the lower frame, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said Lframes, said sleeve having a s- 't circular top freely rotatable on the upper pintle `and having a stiff circular bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, shoe pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and an outer sheath made of `a transparent plastic sheet material extending between the upper and lower frames, said outer sheath having ya slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the shoe pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a circular top and a circular bottom stitched thereto, and said top having eyelets spaced land dimensioned for passage therethrough of the aforesaid hooks of the top frame, said bottom frame resting on the bottom of the sheath.

stiff upper member to shape the top and having spaced hooks on said member to hang the bag on ya clothes bar, a stiff lower member to shape the bottom, -a flexible inner sleeve extending between said members, said sleeve having a top freely rotatable on the upper member and having a bottom freely rotatable on the lower member, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom `and a ilexible outer sheath between the upper and lower members, said outer sheath having a releasable opening extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, and said sheath having a top and a bottom stitched thereto.

8. A closet brag comprising an upper frame to shape the top land having a cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on a clothes bar, a stiff lower mernber to shape the bottom, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, a lower pintle extending upward from the lower member, a exible inner sleeve extending between said upper -frame and lower member, said sleeve having a stiff top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having a stiff 'bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, :and a flexible outer sheath extending between the upper frame and lower member, said outer sheath having a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may -be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having .a top `and a bottom stitched thereto, and said top having eyelets spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough of the aforesaid hooks of the top frame.

9. A closet bag comprising -a stiff upper circular member having spaced hooks to hang the bag -on a clothes bar, a stiff lower circular member, an upper pintle depending from the circular upper member, va lower pintle extending upward from the circular lower member, `a exible inner sleeve extending between said members, said sleeve having a stiff top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having a stiif bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and ian outer sheath made of a thin transparent plastic sheet material extending between the upper and lower members, said outer sheath having a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened `for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a 4top and a bottom stitched thereto, `and said top having openings spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough of the aforesaid hoolts of the top member.

10. A lcloset bag `comprising an upper circular frame made of bent wire and having a cross bar `and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on :a clothes bar, a stiff lower circular member, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, a lower pintle extending upward from the lower member, a flexible inner sleeve extending between said frame and member, said sleeve having a circular top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having `a circular bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and an outer sheath made of `a flexible material extending between the upper frame `and lower member, said outer sheath having `a slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a circular top and a circular bottom stitched thereto, said top having eyelets spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough of the aforesaid hooks of the top frame, and said bottom member resting on the 'bottom of the sheath.

ll. A shoe bag comprising an upper circular frame made of bent wire and having Ia cross bar and spaced hooks on said cross bar to hang the bag on ,a clothes bar, a stiff lower circular member, an upper pintle depending from the upper frame, a lower pintle extending upward from the lower member,` `a flexible inner `sleeve extending between said frame and member, said sleeve having a stiff circular top freely rotatable on the upper pintle and having `a stiff circular bottom freely rotatable on the lower pintle, shoe pockets secured around said sleeve from top to bottom, and an outer sheath madeV of a thin transparent plastic sheet material extending between the upper frame and lower member, said outer sheath having la slide fastener extending from top to bottom, whereby the sheath may be opened for access to the shoe pockets of the freely rotatable inner sleeve, said sheath having a circular top and a circular bottom stitched thereto, said top having eyelets spaced and dimensioned for passage therethrough of the `aforesaid hooks of the top frame, and said stiff bottom member resting on the bottom of the sheath.

No references cited. 

